


Maria's River

by PaxieAmor



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Another thing that is Sarah's fault, F/M, Sad Fluff, but close, dangerously close, not really angst
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-09-30
Updated: 2012-09-30
Packaged: 2017-11-15 07:56:21
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 532
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/524952
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PaxieAmor/pseuds/PaxieAmor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>How long had it been, Tony wondered, since he’d sat down and played that damned piano? Long before Afghanistan, he imagined… come to think of it, Obie had been the last person to play it, hadn’t he?</p><p>And, what do you know, the thought of that actually made Tony feel ill.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Maria's River

**Author's Note:**

  * For [haipollai](https://archiveofourown.org/users/haipollai/gifts).



> Another story that is all Sarah's fault. No real reason why it's Sarah's fault, just know that it is.

How long had it been, Tony wondered, since he’d sat down and played that damned piano? Long before Afghanistan, he imagined… come to think of it, Obie had been the last person to play it, hadn’t he?

And, what do you know, the thought of that actually made Tony feel _ill_.

The piano had arrived yesterday, delicately flown in by some moving company that specialized in moving pianos. Pepper had flat out told him no, he couldn’t just carry it in the suit. As he sat down in front of the old baby grand, he internally conceded that she _may_ have had a point. He didn’t normally for attachments to things, but the piano was an exception.

Maria had played the piano. It’d been a long time since he’d called her Mom, but she had played the piano. She was his first teacher, though she passed off the job as soon as he wanted her to teach him to play “Saturday Night’s Alright for Fighting”.

He brushed his fingers gently over the keys, softly striking a note of two as he thought of her, guiding his once small hands through basic songs; ‘Mary Had a Little Lamb’, ‘Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star’, ‘When the Saints Go Marching In’…

“It's coming on Christmas, they're cutting down trees. They're putting up reindeer and singing songs of joy and peace. Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on…”

Tony didn’t realize he was actually playing something until he’d started to sing. He learned the song for Maria, hadn’t he? He’d heard her singing it more than once, mostly late at night when she probably thought no one could hear her and he always thought of it as her song; Maria’s River. He wished now that he’d been old enough to pick up on the significance, to realize that she wasn’t singing that song because she was happy…

“But it don't snow here, it stays pretty green. I'm going to make a lot of money, then I'm going to quit this crazy scene. Oh, I wish I had a river I could skate away on…”

But Maria had smiled at him, hadn’t she, that first time he played the song for her. She smiled, even praised him, sang along…

“I wish I had a river so long. I would teach my feet to fly… I wish I had a river I could skate away on…”

He never understood that she was as sad as he was, that Howard was just as cold to her as he was to Tony… maybe even colder.

“I made my baby cry…”

Tony’s still playing as he hears Pepper’s heels click across the floor, and he keeps going as she wraps her arms around his shoulders, pressing her lips to his cheek. She’s warm and he loves, _loves_ it. He only hopes he’s just as warm to her, or at the very least she knows he’s trying.

“Planning to skate away on me?” she asked, amusement in her voice… with just a hint of worry. That makes him stop playing, makes him wrap his arm around her waist and bury his face into her neck.

“On you? Never.”

**Author's Note:**

> Lyrics in the song are from the song "River", sang originally by Joni Mitchell, but also by [Robert Downey Jr](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gxjQfFsQKuw).


End file.
